Ex-deputy Dixie Hemingway still mourns the loss of her young daughter and cop husband in a freak accident three years earlier, but takes solace in her pet-sitting job in Siesta Key, Fla., in Clement’s thoughtful and at times somber fourth animal-themed cozy (after 2008’s Even Cat Sitters Get the Blues ). Eager for friendship, Dixie forms an immediate bond with an attractive new neighbor, Laura Halston, who has a cat named Leo. When someone stabs Laura to death in the shower, Dixie suspects Laura’s soon-to-be ex-husband, “a sadistic surgeon” skilled with a scalpel. As Dixie’s new sweetie, sexy homicide detective Lt. Jean-Pierre Guidry, investigates, surprising information comes to light that will challenge everything she knows about Laura. Some readers may find the subplot involving Maizie, a seizure assistance dog for a boy undergoing brain surgery, more compelling than the somewhat predictable murder story. (Jan.)